Ladies Sweep Eastern WI Championship
I
t was definitely Ladies' Nights at Don's Market in Franksville, WI. Only 6 of the 26 players were women, but two are going to Nationals. Joyce Birkenmeyer (Paradise Lanes - pitctured left) took first place and Annie Esser (Pitcher's Pub) finished second.
The first five hours saw the field dwindle to 15 players. Bob Niedermeyer hit a straight flush, while Tony Deitch caught 4 Aces, and Rosemary Fay scored with quad Kings. Fortunately these happened in separate hands and there was no serious bleeding. Then the players enjoyed a great prime rib dinner.
After supper, Fred Hackbarth went out in 15th, followed by Paulette Runkel, Bobby Banks, Bonita Nunez, Josh Shaffer, and Rosemary Fay to set up the final table. Paulette and Bonita had pocket Aces in the same hand in the first blind level and wound up chopping that pot.
Bob Niedermeyer went out when his K-Q lost to Joyce's J-9 as she hit two pair on the river. Joyce then knocked out Jim Gilbertson's pocket 5's with a flush. Dennis Shaffer had to play J-5 and John Verhaeghe's A-10 finished him off. Tony Deitch went out in 6th place when Annie Esser crushed his hand with her full house. 5th place went to former champ John Verhaeghe when his K-Q was dwarfed by Joyce's A-K. John lost 3 hands in a row to Joyce, just before the knockout blow. Tim Christianson was forced to go all-in with rags and he finished 4th. Pat Stevens played A-2 and lost to Joyce's A-5 when she rivered a straight. Pat won the Last Chance Bubble Boy entry and we might see him in Las Vegas also.
Joyce and Annie went heads-up, and it was back and forth for almost two hours. Annie won with a pair of 2's, then a pair of 3's, and took the chip lead when she rivered a flush to beat Joyce's set of 3's. The final hand took place at 10:15. Joyce played J-10 against Annie's A-K. The flop gave Joyce a set of Jacks, and it was all over.
Congrats to the latest winners from Wisconsin who will take their shot at winning the big prizes in Vegas on July 2nd.